This was an absolutely amazing third installment to this series! I’m not sure if it’s the end, or if there will be more books, as it felt it could go either way. I am so attached to the characters and their jobs. The world building is exquisite and has me still wanting more! The narrator for the audiobook is absolutely fantastic and I could listen to them for days on end. I’ve already started recommending this series to all my fantasy loving friends!

What I appreciate the most about this series of books by Katherine Addison, is its ability to defy expectations with each subsequent release. With plots that repeatedly sound like the potential to be epic adventuring fantasy morphing into something smaller, more erudite and beguiling. The characters are remarkable, real and always a touch fussy. A great conclusion to the trilogy.

4 stars of dragons *see below why I am docking one full star from every book in this series.

Audiobook is wonderfully read (as is the entire series).

This third book in this series is (almost*) wonderful. I really enjoy this author’s prose and storylines. Each book in this series has been a sort-of fantasy and old-fashioned murder mystery mash-up. The characters are loveable yet fallible, and the main characters continue to change and grow throughout these stories.

And while so much new fantasy these days is simply a disguise for soft-porn romance, the books in this world have fully fleshed-out relationships of all kinds and only hints towards sweet romance. For someone like me who doesn’t like romance books, and loves fantasy and sci.fi, these rare books bring great joy.

If you can stomach the glaring fault* of this world, and like the idea of a mystical mystery with various side-quests, then you will love this award-winning series of adventures.

Huge gratitude to Netgalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for an advanced Audio-ARC of this book, in exchange for my (way too honest) opinion.


*Would otherwise have given this book 5 stars, but am docking one full star from every book in this series because the world-building is absolutely racist.

While far from as blatant as the first book in this series “The Goblin Emperor”. That book, as well as this full series (written by a young white woman), has “good and beautiful” white-skinned Elves and “bad/barbarian/ugly” Black Goblins with red or orange eyes?! Plus, those of mixed race are various “ugly” shades of grey and often carry the “demon-like” eyes of red or orange?? Further, in this world, Elves have the greatest amount of privilege, while Goblins and those of mixed race are marginalized for the colour of their skin and eyes. This is FANTASY!! These races could have been written with any colour skin, and still shown the disparities of race and class. To make them mirror the real world in which this author holds immense privilege is gross and shamefully racist. If the author was trying to prove a point, it could have been done with much more class.

Also, editors and publishers should be standing up for those most marginalized by refusing to publish this stuff as-is.

This book was fantastic! So worth waiting for!!!!

Like many people, I first encountered Katherine Addison when I found the Goblin Emperor on a bunch of awards ballots and was immediately enchanted. Within six months of reading it, I doubled back and listened to the audiobook - that novel was charming and delightful and wonderful. (I also adored her unrelated book, the Angel of the Crows, and I think more people need to read that.) I was thrilled beyond belief when Tor and NetGalley gave me an eARC for The Witness For the Dead, a related book in the same universe as The Goblin Emperor. That book was a book of my heart - It was the most enjoyable reading experience I had in months when I read it the first time. I was even more exited two years ago when Tor and NetGalley gave me an eARC for The Grief of Stones, the direct sequel to the Witness for the Dead which I described at the time as “perfection itself” - a description I still stand by.

In anticipation of the Tomb of Dregons, the long awaited, third book in the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy, I recently re-listened to audiobooks of the other books in this universe, so I have been soaking in it for weeks now. I was ecstatic when the publisher and NetGalley gave me an audio eARC in exchange for an honest review.


This book was a joy from beginning to end. It picked up right where The Grief of Stones ended, with Thara Celehar still suffering from the loss of his ability to speak to the dead after his encounter under the hill of werewolves in the last volume. The treatment of his pain and loss feels true without being maudlin or overwhelming. Without spoiling things, the resolution to that plot point is quite satisfying. This story takes unexpected twists and turns that keep you invested in the characters and their problems. The return of some characters and plot points from prior books is perfectly done without swamping Celehar’s story. I loved this book madly and am so so so sorry it is over. I take from the marketing that this is wrapping up the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy, but I hope this is not the last we see of these characters.

I enjoyed the audiobook narrator and thought he did a good job with TharaCelehar’s gravelly voice. I listened to this at 2x speed.

As a .long-time fan of Addison's work, this was everything I wanted. Liam Gerrard is perfectly suited to the gaslamp fantasy of the Chronicles of Osreth, his voice shape-shifting from gravely protagonist Thara Celehar to charismatic Iana to the ghost of a dragon. Truly, this book was perfect and I'm only more excited now than ever to see what else Addison offers us from this world. The ending implies that we may see more of Celehar and Maia and I cannot wait. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Macmillan audio, and Tor Books for the opportunity to listen to this book early!

This was an incredible end to the trilogy and an immersive reading and listening experience. It has been wonderful to watch Thara Celehar grow into himself throughout the trilogy and come to appreciate his own worth and that others might value his friendship.

This book flowed seamlessly from the previous two, with Celehar facing ever-more complicated duties and proving again and again what a fundamentally kind and good person he is. I was lost in the story and found that I couldn't even work on other tasks while listening - the book demanded my full attention.

I hope that we get further adventures of Celehar. This book did a great job tying up all the loose ends in Amalo while still leaving the door open for more adventures in a new place, with new people. I would read a never-ending series of his adventures. They flow so seamlessly into one another, building and combining into experiences that, when recounted, sound absurd.

I adore this world and these characters and I dearly hope Katherine Addison continues telling us tales from it.

The audiobook was excellent. The narrator did a phenomenal job with the complicated character names and places, the varying levels of formality of speech, and managed to both be pleasant to listen to and create distinct and easily-recognizable voices for all of the characters. I felt like I was living the book, not listening to it.

*Thanks to Tor Books and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy for review.

It's difficult to review "The Tomb of Dragons" in any detail without including extensive plot spoilers. Safe to say that the unassuming, diligent, honest, courageous, impoverished, lonely cleric Thara Celehar finally learns how well loved he is by all his friends, and that in the course of the events consequent on his encounter with a dragon he forms a new and important relationship that we can hope will heal some old wounds.

His very diligence and honesty make him some extremely dangerous enemies, of course: the most dangerous he's faced so far. And thus the bittersweet, though hopeful, conclusion -- which left me hopeful not only for Thara's future, but also for another installment in this series. Manifest!

As always, Liam Garrard's narration is nearly faultless -- his Thara voice, in particular, is perfect.

I'm constantly fascinated with how Addison plots these books - they're murder mysteries, but just as equally about the bureaucracy and politics of resolving those cases, and all in the most gentle and kind tone. It's something I really look forward to and enjoy, that the protagonists and their circle will be your commonplace kind people, a sort that is missing from so many novels. None of them are naive; instead, they have seen bad and are just constantly striving to do their best. It's a joy to see Celehar have to confront the fact that he has an impact on those around him and that he has people who care about him and whether he lives or dies and is happy.

While I can't say this was a perfect wrap-up to the trilogy (I would happily ready many more of Thara Celehar's problem-solving missions), it does end at a satisfying place. I think that the resolution to his ability to speak to the dead comes a little quickly, considering what an impact it has, but as much of the rest of the book comes to deal with his feelings on it, I can't complain too much.

I loved getting to listen to this as an audiobook - Liam Gerrard does a fantastic job voicing everyone and gives Celehar such a wonderful gravitas and voice. I also feel like some of the grammatical and vocabulary choices that Addison has made in her worldbuilding are easier to acclimate to and catch in audio form, which I appreciated here.

I love this series so much! Thara Celehar is no longer a speaker for the dead, as he has lost his ability. But perhaps it will return, and in the meantime he has another assignment to work on. And ends up embroiled with the ghosts of murdered dragons...

As always, this is an interweaving of multiple mysteries set in a rich fantasy world with interesting characters. I hope we get more written in this world! The main character is charming and has a hard time accepting help or believing his friends really care that much about him. There are some beautiful friendships in this series and seeing them develop is heartwarming. Highly recommend them all! The audio narration is excellent. The narrator for the series nails the vibe and it's helpful to listen because a lot of the names are long and difficult to pronounce. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.